The Healing Helm is a tool that helps determine recovery goals and develop an individual treatment or recovery plan for people with mental health difficulties, as well as select interventions that can help achieve identified treatment goals. Using the recovery helm it is possible to evaluate the conditions in the living areas that are important for the recovery, to evaluate the areas in need of improvement or modification, to choose the priority of areas for improvement, to follow the progress towards objectives defined in different periods, as well as evaluate the results and change the objectives.
Ten recovery helm areas are evaluated: control of symptoms of mental disorder, physical health and healthy lifestyles; identity, self-esteem/self-respect and empowerment; skills for independent living; the purpose and meaning of life; work, education, income, benefits; responsibility; housing; relations; trauma/stress coping and resilience; hope and optimism.

The presentation will be illustrated with clinical examples.

1- Egyptian Adaptation of DBT program for residential care adolescents: A pilot study

Conductor:

Reham Kamel, Egypt

Abstract:

The primary objective of the pilot study was to investigate whether participating in the DBT skills program and learning the core DBT-A skills of mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness would produce a significant decrease in the maladaptive ,  risky behaviors and impulsivity and significant increase in emotional regulation and coping with stresses. These primary outcomes were  assessed by comparing the participants scores pre and post therapy intervention  (baseline and after completing the DBT program).  The secondary objective of this study was to explore the challenges, acceptability, facilitators and barriers that faced the participants and the therapists during the application of  this program intervention  through qualitative interviews and  weekly meetings  with the participants and the therapists.

2- Dynamics of Borderline Personality disorder among a sample of adolescents (in depth clinical study)

Conductor:

Mohamed Ahmed Mahmoud Khattab, Egypt

Abstract:

This study is intended to reveal the main dynamics causing borderline personality disorder among adolescents, identify their psychological structure and record their most common symptoms, features and psychological signs. The sample ages range 16 : 18 years (m 17 years).  It included (5) cases (4 females and one male) the following tools were applied:

• In depth clinical interview
• Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ)
• Self esteem test
• T.P test
• F.D test
• Thematic apperception test (TAT)
• Rorschach ink – blot – test
• Added to free or spontaneous drawings or doodles the subjects autobiographies by using the clinical approach.

3- Implementing the DBT skill training group therapy in Kasr Al Ainy: experiences, challenges and dialectics

Conductor:

Shirin El Makawi,  Egypt

Abstract:

Since year 2020, the dialectic behavior skill training group therapy for treatment of borderline personality disorder patients started at the Psychiatry and Addiction hospital in Kasr Al Ainy. Multiple challenges and problems the DBT team were facing, especially that timing of start to implement this type of group therapy was during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was one of the obligatory fulfillment criteria to be licensed DBT therapist. And also many dialectic solutions to overcome these obstacles were created by team members. 

 Method:

The DBT team members of the psychiatry department, Kasr Al Ainy, consist of two assistant lecturers, four lecturers, two assistant professors, and one professor. The training of first part to get the license as a DBT therapist from DBT Linehan institute, California, started in Cairo, December 2019 and was completed in September 2020.  The training consisted of a theoretical and a practical part. For the practical part the nine team members were divided in two groups. Each group started a DBT skill training group therapy, one for adults and one for adolescents, for about 12 borderline personality disorder outpatients in each group, lasting 6 months. Weekly supervision and consultation meetings were done. After this period another two consecutive group therapies were provided  and the third group is ongoing. Challenges and opportunities used to face the team members and are still facing until now to keep the DBT group therapy as an ongoing therapeutic approach in the psychiatry department of Kasr Alainy.